Wheelchair

Police are looking for the public's help in finding the person or people who stole a wheelchair from a disabled man Saturday morning in Newport Beach. About 3 a.m. Saturday, a 57-year-old Newport Beach resident was riding in his black, electric Quantum 6000 XL wheelchair in the 500 block of 32 n d Street when the battery died on him, said Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Rasmussen. The man left the wheelchair alone in the parking lot where it died and got a ride from there.

Hundreds of restless children created a steady, excited buzz that permeated the picnic shelter at Costa Mesa’s most handicap-accessible playground as they sat through an hour of tear-filled orations by countless dignitaries Friday. Lists of thanks were given, proclamations recognizing all of the work that went into the one-of-a-kind Angels Playground were read, ceremonial ribbons were cut — then the kids were let loose. Instantly the equipment was swarmed. There was no pause, no thought given to which kids were physically disabled and which kids were able-bodied.

Cue the spotlight and let's give sixth-grader Dusty Brandom a standing ovation. Dusty performed this week in Lincoln Elementary School's production of "Oliver!" playing the wicked Mr. Bumble. That's no small task, especially considering Dusty has muscular dystrophy and can't walk. And although confined to a wheelchair, Dusty took on the role of the villainous head of the orphanage, belting out three songs along the way. Born with a type of muscular dystrophy that affects only boys, Dusty started showing symptoms of the disease six years ago. By the time he was 10, he had no more strength in his legs.

A Superior Court judge on Monday sentenced a white supremacist gang member from Huntington Beach to two years and eight months in prison for attacking and spitting on a black man in a wheelchair six months ago in Costa Mesa. Ronald Lee Bray, 25, pleaded guilty to two felonies — one of committing a hate crime and another of making a criminal threat with a hate crime enhancement. On July 7, Bray spat on the wheelchair-bound man and pushed him into a street light pole outside of a 7-Eleven convenience store at East Mesa Verde Drive and Harbor Boulevard.

55, Newport Beach ... President of the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce ... Celebrated his 20-year run as an executive in the chamber in November 2001 with a surprise party arranged by his staff ... Founded the Taste of Newport 14 years ago ... Believes the changes to this year's boat parade will be a positive thing for the city ... Recently completed a five-month renovation to his home that has made his kitchen more...

A baseball field with a smooth surface, access for wheelchairs into the dugouts and a rubberized surface to prevent injuries, this all seems like a dream come true for Reo Kobayashi, a Newport Coast resident. He plans to enjoy playing on it. Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the City of Anaheim broke ground last month on the MLB and Angels All-Star Complex at Pioneer Park in Anaheim. The project is part of the “Going Beyond” charity and community service theme for the 2010 All-Star Summer in Anaheim.

Luis Pena Leilani Gutierrez knew about the anniversary picnic being thrown for her by friends, but she didn't know about the $42,500 surprise. Mother's Day marked the second anniversary of the car accident that left Leilani, now 6, paralyzed from the neck down. She received the anniversary gift of a state-of-the-art wheelchair that left her all smiles. "It's great," Leilani said. "[I'm] just happy to think about chasing Cindy," who's a friend of hers.

Cindy Trane Christeson "What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of life." -- Emil Brunner "Never give up hope. There is always hope," Barbara Bowie said to me at a brunch that we both attended last spring. When I first saw her that day, I did a double take. The last time I had seen Barbara, she was in a wheelchair. The time before that, she was using a cane. But at the brunch it clearly was Barbara and she clearly was walking effortlessly.

Friend. It's a word that gets bandied about a lot. You're friends with the neighbor who says, "Hi," every morning as he jogs by, with the co-worker you see on your coffee break, with the person you sat next to in second grade. But once in a while there comes an example of what friendship can mean at its deepest levels. Take the tale of Richard Kanzler, a Newport Beach dad who became paralyzed last September after a motorcycle accident. Kanzler's struggle to get back to the routines of daily life has been helped by his circle of friends.

Local rugby enthusiasts are in for a treat Saturday with a wheelchair rugby exhibition. Orange Coast College is hosting the eighth annual Bill Alvarez Memorial Wheelchair Rugby Exhibition to raise money for the school's disabled students. Alvarez, who died seven years ago, for 14 years served as the High Tech Center coordinator. The doors open at 10:30 a.m. with games beginning at 11 a.m. in OCC's Peterson Gymnasium, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. There is a suggested donation of $5 and parking is free.

Editor's note: This corrects the year the women went through the pageant and Alyson Roth's title. These contestants are no ordinary beauty queens. They jump out of airplanes, drive race cars, enter surf competitions and ride in bicycle races. They have more courage than most, never mind that they take on the world from the seat of a wheelchair. "A lot of people see the chair and define women by that chair and not their personality," said Alexis Ostrander, director and co-producer of a documentary on Ms. Wheelchair America that premieres at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

NEWPORT BEACH — About a dozen blue balloons decorated a lone wheelchair in the middle of the flag deck Friday morning at Newport Elementary School. Students sat in a horse-shoe shape around the chair, and parents gathered behind them to talk about not one wheelchair, but 52. "So what does 52 wheelchairs look like?" Student Council President Barron Banta, 12, asked the audience. Kids interspersed in the audience stood up and held identical pictures above their heads of someone in a wheelchair.

Police are looking for the public's help in finding the person or people who stole a wheelchair from a disabled man Saturday morning in Newport Beach. About 3 a.m. Saturday, a 57-year-old Newport Beach resident was riding in his black, electric Quantum 6000 XL wheelchair in the 500 block of 32 n d Street when the battery died on him, said Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Rasmussen. The man left the wheelchair alone in the parking lot where it died and got a ride from there.

A baseball field with a smooth surface, access for wheelchairs into the dugouts and a rubberized surface to prevent injuries, this all seems like a dream come true for Reo Kobayashi, a Newport Coast resident. He plans to enjoy playing on it. Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the City of Anaheim broke ground last month on the MLB and Angels All-Star Complex at Pioneer Park in Anaheim. The project is part of the “Going Beyond” charity and community service theme for the 2010 All-Star Summer in Anaheim.

Recently, as I was going through airport security screening at Los Angeles International Airport, the issue of how we can best keep terrorist attacks on civilians to a minimum once again went through my mind. Fortunately, there has not really been a successful attack by foreigners since Sept. 11, 2001. Has that been due at least in part to airport screenings? Should this screening be increased, decreased or maintained as it is? Preliminarily, we must recognize that the pressure on our president, whether it is George W. Bush, Barack Obama, or anyone else, to keep such an attack from re-occurring must be crushing!

Hundreds of restless children created a steady, excited buzz that permeated the picnic shelter at Costa Mesa’s most handicap-accessible playground as they sat through an hour of tear-filled orations by countless dignitaries Friday. Lists of thanks were given, proclamations recognizing all of the work that went into the one-of-a-kind Angels Playground were read, ceremonial ribbons were cut — then the kids were let loose. Instantly the equipment was swarmed. There was no pause, no thought given to which kids were physically disabled and which kids were able-bodied.

Orange Coast College plans to host a wheelchair rugby exhibition today to raise scholarship money for disabled students. The match, which pits two Southern California teams against each other, is set to begin at 11 a.m. in the campus’ Peterson Gymnasium. Admission is $5 at the door. In addition to raising funds, the match will pay tribute to former OCC staff member and wheelchair rugby player Bill Alvarez, who served for 14 years as coordinator of the High Tech Center and died three years ago. “We’ve been sponsoring a wheelchair rugby exhibition for more than a decade, and it’s one of our most popular events on campus, year in and year out,” Bob Zhe, OCC’s counselor for disabled students, said in a release.

Dr. Michael Bayer didn't anticipate finding a new career in the slums of Chennai, India, six years ago. The Corona del Mar resident was a practicing orthopedic surgeon when he went on a medical mission with Mariners Church and volunteered to help fellow parishioner Don Schoendorfer distribute four wheelchairs he had constructed in his garage to the disabled poor. The duo returned weeks later to co-found the Free Wheelchair Mission. "After giving out the first wheelchair to a little girl lying on a dirt floor in a tiny hut, I was just really touched," Bayer said.

Saturday's scorching heat wasn't enough to stop two Corona del Mar residents from reaching the end of a 3,000-mile cross-county campaign aimed at raising money to purchase 15,000 wheelchairs for thousands of disabled people in developing countries. At Mariners Church in Irvine, shortly after 2:30 p.m., Don Schoendorfer and Mike Bayer, co-founders of Free Wheelchair Mission, completed the cycling movement they spearheaded. "The whole point of this bike ride across America was to get the word out about our cause," Schoendorfer said in-between bites of a celebratory hamburger.